<p>The Centre has asked schools to get the midday meal tasted by at least one of the parents of its students daily and maintain a record for inspection to check if wholesome and nutritious food is being given to the children.<br /><br /></p>.<p>The tasting of the meal has to be carried out by the parents on a rotation basis along with one of the teachers of the schools before the food is served to students, official sources told Deccan Herald.<br /><br />Making the exercise mandatory, the Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry recently asked the state governments to ensure its implementation at all the schools where midday meal programme is run. More than 10.22 crore children are served midday meal at their schools every day across the country.<br /><br />This comes almost 10 months after the ministry made tasting of the midday meal by at least two adult persons, including one of the teachers of the schools, a mandatory exercise, issuing a 15-page guideline for the implementation of the scheme.<br /><br />The revised guidelines were issued in February this year to address the issue of safety and hygiene as a large number of children fell ill while some even died after consuming contaminated food served under the scheme in their schools in a series of incidents reported from various states.<br /><br />“It has now been decided that in addition to the mandatory testing by one teacher, at least one parent and preferably two should be present during serving of the meals to students so that they can taste the food as well as certify the number of children who partake of the midday meal,” the HRD ministry said in a letter to all the state governments recently.<br /><br />The ministry also clarified that parents need not necessarily be picked up from among the school management committees.</p>
<p>The Centre has asked schools to get the midday meal tasted by at least one of the parents of its students daily and maintain a record for inspection to check if wholesome and nutritious food is being given to the children.<br /><br /></p>.<p>The tasting of the meal has to be carried out by the parents on a rotation basis along with one of the teachers of the schools before the food is served to students, official sources told Deccan Herald.<br /><br />Making the exercise mandatory, the Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry recently asked the state governments to ensure its implementation at all the schools where midday meal programme is run. More than 10.22 crore children are served midday meal at their schools every day across the country.<br /><br />This comes almost 10 months after the ministry made tasting of the midday meal by at least two adult persons, including one of the teachers of the schools, a mandatory exercise, issuing a 15-page guideline for the implementation of the scheme.<br /><br />The revised guidelines were issued in February this year to address the issue of safety and hygiene as a large number of children fell ill while some even died after consuming contaminated food served under the scheme in their schools in a series of incidents reported from various states.<br /><br />“It has now been decided that in addition to the mandatory testing by one teacher, at least one parent and preferably two should be present during serving of the meals to students so that they can taste the food as well as certify the number of children who partake of the midday meal,” the HRD ministry said in a letter to all the state governments recently.<br /><br />The ministry also clarified that parents need not necessarily be picked up from among the school management committees.</p>
